Dust Motes
by Lady Fellshot
Summary: I thought that there needed to be more written on the characters from the War of the Spider Queen and so here I am writing one about a very young Ryld for now
1. on the run

This is a little "could have happened" story involving Ryld Argith from the War of the Spider Queen books. This will probably turn into a bunch of little vignettes eventually.   
  
With the exception of Tarlshi, Crinita, the Bloody Fang Gang and the story, I none of this was my own bright idea and I do not own nor profit from this in any material way, shape or form and have too little money to be worthwhile to sue anyway.  
  
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Deep below the surface of Toril lies the Underdark, home to the Dark elves. Menzoberranzan, Lolth's prize city, houses hundreds of beings from races other than the dark elves. some of these unfortunents are slaves to the drow nobles and rich merchants but others live nominally free in the ghetto of Braeryn, the Stenchstreets.   
  
Three of these upstanding residents of Braeryn were currently running from a rabble of grubby orcs and hobgoblins with red sleeves. While this was surely not uncommon, evidenced by the complete lack of interest from the other residents, the three being pursued were more noteworthy than usual.  
  
The rogue farthest ahead of the irate orcs was heavily swathed in a dark, shabby cloak and many tattered shawls. Had the figure been observed sitting, it would appear as a crippled beggar. Had the figure been standing still and wearing less bulky clothing, the feminine shape under the rags would have been more apparent. Her uncovered, chocolate brown face gleamed with sweat and her toffee colored eyes betrayed a combination of amusement and worry. She looked human if not observed closely, but the scent of brimstone lingered about her and two small horns were carefully hidden in her dingy black hair. "Come on you two! The place where we can hide out is just a little farther!" she called to her two companions behind her.  
  
"That's what you said ten streets ago, wench," Grumbled the second fleeing rogue between breaths. His raven black skin, tangled white hair chopped short and sharply pointed ears identified him as a dark elf. The ragged, threadbare state of his trousers, shirt and cloak proclaimed his residency in the ghetto. The worn scabbard and short sword attested to his cleverness and skill with a blade. For an elf though, he was broadly built and tall, but moved a certain quickness.  
  
"You know of course, Ryld, that Crinita isn't listening," the third running rogue came up alongside the drow. Taller than the tiefling or the dark elf, his skinny arms and legs strung with sinew, the githerzai loped along, giving the impression that he could continue to run all the way to Skullport without breaking a sweat. His knees and elbows were knobby and bony, his hairless skin a dark yellow mottled with brownish spots. "On the other hand it does look like she has a bolt hole in mind."  
  
"Tarlshi, whatever made you believe that Crin can think?" Ryld shot back. Crinita, farther ahead, disappeared around a corner. Ryld and Tarlshi sprinted to put more distance between them and their pursuers and to catch up to their compatriot. Tarlshi got around the corner first and collided with the rope Crinita dangled for the pair. "Get up here quick!" she whispered. Tarlshi, for all his well honed talent of long distance running, was not adept at climbing. Ryld followed the gangly githerzai as soon as there was enough room on the rope for him to do so. The three barely got the rope pulled in before three grunting thugs of the Bloody Fang Gang stepped into the alley.  
  
The trio held their breaths as the mob of orcs split off to search the back alleys, sighing with relief when the last goblinoid moved off down the street.  
  
With that sigh, the two males turned to glare at the tiefling. Suddenly defensive, she asked, "What? It's shiny, looks to be made of emerald or something and is too good for the gangs around here." With no response forthcoming from either elf or gith, Crinita sighed, "At least it should sell well."  
  
"You've managed to our only remaining safe resting spot though! You knew that Arx's place is neutral ground!" growled Ryld, "You stole it inside the tavern! Now we're going to have to hunt out another hideaway. Couldn't you have waited until they left the tavern? Or at least didn't have as many friends with them?"  
  
"Hey, I saw an opportunity and I took it!"  
  
"I'll say you took it..."  
  
"Could you tell me what the score was?" asked Tarlshi, "I didn't get a good look at it before we had to split."  
  
"Sure," Crinita grinned, thankful for Tarlshi's even temper, "But I want it back." From a fold in her numerous shawls, the tiefling drew a length of rough finished green crystal as long as her forearm and about the width of two of her fingers. It was clear and glowed with a soft light from deep within the rod.  
  
"That is nice. I think it might even be worth the trouble of finding a new safe-house," the githerzai said, " I don't think it's enchanted though."  
  
"What?!" the girl indignantly huffed, "With color like that and the glowing, it has to be emerald and magical!"  
  
Ryld, older than the githerzai and the tiefling put together, commented, "It looks like a wizard's wand but I've never seen one like that."  
  
"So it'll be worth even more!" Crinita beamed.  
  
"Provided we find a buyer and a decent price..."   
  
"There's the best idea you've had all day!"  
  
"We might want to find one of the merchants who supply the Oblodrans," suggested Tarlshi, thoughtfully looking at the crystalline rod.  
  
"How come?" asked Crinita.  
  
"A mind magic wand?" guessed Ryld.  
  
"Yup, I think it's a dorje," replied the gith.  
  
"Can you use it?" asked Ryld.  
  
Tarlshi shrugged, "Probably not. I never had the leisure or patience to develop the mental agility necessary to do anything useful with mind magic."  
  
"Wonderful! Let's go sell it!" Crinita grinned at the other two.  
  
"How about we find a place to get some rest and sell this thing at Narbondel's first light?" Ryld suggested. "I want a bit of rest before you take us on another run through the Stenchstreets."  
  
Tarlshi looked thoughtful while Crinita readied an argument to the dark elf's caution when the githerzai interrupted her, "About a week ago I saw a small entrance to a side cavern behind one of the alleys. When I got closer, it looked like no one had used it for a while."  
  
"An abandoned alcove? Here?!" The tiefling was incredulous.   
  
"It was well hidden..." Tarlshi began defensively but Ryld interrupted him.  
  
"Look, let's go over to where this mythical cavern is and then make a decision. If we are quiet, no one will notice us right?"  
  
"Sounds like a plan," the other two agreed.  
  
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	2. a hidey hole

As usual: Don't bother me it wasn't my idea. and I hate disclaimers.  
  
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The trio cautiously left their hiding place and kept to the rooftops as they made their way to the walls of the main cavern of Menzoberranzan. Tarlshi led the way. Their destination turned out to be located in one of the dingiest parts of the Braeryn.  
  
Buildings leaned drunkenly or were in the process of crumbling into dust. Mushrooms were starting to sprout over parts of the collapsed stone buildings and some of those fungi looked like they were being encouraged to grow there. Ryld's eyes kept straying to the empty windows, unable to shake the feeling of being watched. Tarlshi started to keep one eye on the cave walls and the other on the ruins. Even the usually happy go lucky Crinita was beginning to feel uneasy. "How much farther?" she whispered.  
  
"Not far now," Tarlshi whispered back, "There it is!"   
  
Two collapsed buildings formed an alley, of sorts, that ended at the cavern wall. It looked uninhabited. Ryld dropped a ball of darkness over the head of the rundown alley and they all snuck inside. In a very dark corner of the dead end, there was a small opening, mostly hidden by rubble. "You're sure we can fit?" Ryld eyed the small passage skeptically.  
  
"I think so," answered the bigger githerzai, "It looks like it opens up farther in."  
  
Crinita leaned against a ruined wall and huffed, "Are we going in or are we going to stand around out here talking about it?"  
  
Irritated the dark elf spun towards her and snapped, "If you're so eager, why don't you go in first?"  
  
"Fine! I will!" She shifted some rubble to the point where she could wriggle into the opening and started through.  
  
Tarlshi turned to Ryld, "Should we go in after her?"  
  
"Well, if there's anything in there it'll go after her first..."  
  
"True, but she also gets the first pick of anything in there as well."  
  
"Better go in after her then. Me first and then you?"  
  
"You are better in a fight... agreed."  
  
The passage was extremely dusty and Ryld could feel the stuff, soft and fine, work its way into his already grimy shirt and trousers. He could hear Crinita ahead of him, scuffling around what sounded like a room. Curious, he inspected some of the dust. Wait a minute, he thought, this looks more like ashes. He crawled faster to get to where the tiefling was currently exploring.  
  
He emerged into what looked a little like living quarters. On his left, nestled in a corner, a little cooking area peeked out along with a very narrow shaft leading out. there were a few wooden chests sitting against the wall. Crinita, a true kleptomaniac, was in the process of rummaging through one of them in hopes of finding something interesting. On his right, Ryld saw what might have once been a comfortable common area. If it were not for the scorch marks, the overturned and broken furniture and the few charred, open chests around he would never have thought otherwise. There were doorways leading to two other chambers leading out of this area. Tarlshi interrupted Ryld's musing, "Could you move? You're blocking the way and I need to sneeze!" Ryld obligingly moved aside for Tarlshi.   
  
Crinita came over to the passage entrance, 'Looks like a serious fight went through here doesn't it?"  
  
"Sure does," agreed Tarlshi, "It looks like Arx's place after a brawl."  
  
Ryld bent to examine the pieces of a broken mushroom wood chair. Not only was there the fire damage but also deep gouges and scratches, like... "Blade marks," he muttered. He looked a bit more closely around the room and realized that most of the run down furnishings had weapon marks on them.  
  
"What do you think?" crowed Tarlshi as he turned to Ryld, "I really found Mithias' Hideaway, didn't I?"  
  
Still examining the objects in the room, Ryld nodded. Crinita looked up from her rummaging and asked, "Mithias?"  
  
"All your life you've lived here and you've never heard a Mithias story?" Tarlshi chuckled as he looked towards the tiefling. She shook her head. "Mithias was supposed to be a resident of the Braeryn a few centuries back. Stories vary as to what race this person was, but most of the stories have Mithias as a pretty drow female. Anyway, Mithias had a network of informers and spies. Worked as an information broker. Anyway, his or her network didn't charge for information regarding raids that the noble houses occasionally do and would tell anyone and everyone they could find about those raids. You might have heard someone say that they 'gave a mithie'? Meaning they gave something useful without asking for anything in return? Same principle. Anyway whoever they were, they say he or she disappeared without a trace a few centuries back and the spy network supposedly fell apart shortly thereafter."  
  
"Maybe she just got tired of her game," Crinita commented as she turned back to the chest she had been ransacking. "She might have gone to the surface, started a noble house, set up a perfume shop or even... what's this?"  
  
She lifted a large flat panel out of the chest and lifted a few more items out of the chest. These she placed in a separate pile from the stuff she had already found. A pair of child sized practice swords, a silver medallion and a few sheets of ink-stained vellum were gently set on the dusty floor. Ryld and Tarlshi came over to investigate the new finds. Crinita picked up the tarnished medallion and examined it. Tarlshi toyed with the swords and Ryld, the only one who could read, squinted at the delicate vellum sheets.  
  
Tarlshi swung the practice swords about. They were finely balanced, even to his untrained hands and were scored with the nicks, scratches and dings of long use. The swords' cross pieces were turned up and carved in an overlapping, repeating pattern.   
  
Ryld could not make out the language on the fading vellum sheets, aside from recognizing the language as elven, but so archaic he could not make sense of it. It looked metered though and was written evenly across the page. Like a song, he thought. "You, I think you might have hit the mark when you said 'Mithias's hideaway,'" Ryld called to the other two.  
  
Crinita turned over the medallion and said, "I think I know why this Mithias was so good at not getting caught." She tossed the emblem to Ryld, "That's no symbol of the Spider Queen," she said.  
  
Ryld caught the medallion and turned it over. Through the tarnish made the metal darker than it should have been, he could still make out the shape of a twirling female elven dancer against a crescent.   
  
******* 


	3. Patterns in the dust

Disclaimer: I own nothing!!!  
  
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"I guess the matrons caught up to her for heresy," Ryld commented as he tossed the medallion back. "It would be best to melt that down before trying to sell it."  
  
"True that," she grinned. "I think we'll be safe here, right?"  
  
"At the very least, the Red Fangs aren't likely to come here. These places are supposedly..." The clatter of the practice swords falling to the floor interrupted him, "By the Abyss, what's wrong with you Tarlshi?!"  
  
Tarlshi turned to Ryld with wide eyes. "Look closer at the dust there,"he said as he pointed towards the open area where they had first entered the hideout. Both dark elf and tiefling turned to where the githerzai was pointing.   
  
The dust and ash that they had kicked up with their passing now out lined two faint figures, one the size and shape of an adult elven female and the other the right size for an elf child. Both looked like they wielded blades, two apiece. Ryld cursed under his breath and drew his short sword. Crinita dove for one of the practice swords. Tarlshi shook his head slowly. "There aren't any footprints," he whispered in a stunned voice.  
  
The outlines paid no attention to the intruders, instead appearing to start sparring with each other. Ryld, Crinita and Tarlshi looked on as the pair went through a dizzying series of silent movements, flowing from one attack routine to a defense routine to another sequence of attacks. Ryld, the most experienced fighter of the three, had trouble following the speed of action between the two apparitions, partially because neither of the ghosts seemed to favor one hand or the other. The child then spun into a flurry of spinning attacks, driving the other ghost back. Ryld did not follow the action well enough to discern any but the last movement, a disengage coming out of a spin to land a hit on the female apparition's rib cage. Given his knowledge of drow family life, Ryld expected retribution to be forthcoming for the little elf ghost. Instead the lady ghost swept the little one up into a hug and ruffled the child's hair. Crinita whispered in an awed voice, "These places really are haunted."  
  
The broken silence seemed to shatter the spell and the outlines became nothing more than idly floating dust and ash.  
  
Ryld said softly, " I think we'll be safe here."  
  
"You think so?" asked Tarlshi.  
  
"This place ... feels different from other bolt holes," answered Ryld. "better memories I suppose."  
  
"Well you ought to know Ryld," Crinita yawned. "I mean, after that fight you had with those jerks from House ... Ilplarl wasn't it? I thought you were as good as dead what with having to change locations every night last week."  
  
"You'll probably still come to grief over that, Ryld," Tarlshi commented as he found a comfy spot on the floor. "You shouldn't have reacted to the insults they slung at us. They don't know any better."  
  
"And I do?" Ryld gave a bleak chuckle. "I'm drow remember? Same as them."  
  
"Not the same as them," Crinita murmured as she drifted into slumber. "The same as us. and you'll always remember it and this place."  
  
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Please Read and review. I'd appreciate the input:-) 


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